A GB journey

Hello, everybody.

These are the letters of my first workout log ever, as I switched to gymnastic body strength from my pleasure / hobby calisthenics training.

I think there are good reasons for keeping track of workouts, at least for now, when I came across with lots of acronyms, new exercices, routines, intervals, volumes, tempos etc. Secondly, very good advices can help me on the path. Thirdly, if I do mistakes, they can be corrected and other people will benefit from seeing and not repeating them (well, at least theoretically) . So, here I go…

I'm 34 y.o., 180 cm, 77 kg, have been through many sports (amateur / hobby) level: running, volleyball, soccer and maybe others until the age of 18. At the age of 22 I weighted 50 kg at current height, being pretty much invisible to people around. As they kept looking for me even when I was in front of them , I decided to do some weight lifting and, after some incidents on the street, started kickboxing training as well. It took about 6 years to add 25 kilos to my weight and to step out from the invisible world to the a more visible one. At some point, I took about a three years "rest", with lots of pizza, ice-cream, beer, office work, wife and other self-destruction stuff , then came back into senses as of january this year and started calisthenics. Discovered GB exercices and I was amazed by the complexity, beauty and strength of the workouts, so I decided it's time for a new challenge.

I wanted to post my workout once a week, but things changed a lot during the last 36 hours, as I learned and experienced a lot of new things in my workouts, so I think it's better to keep a daily record.

I will skip the previous three workouts and start as of today.

Really fun and entertaining workout today, I felt great during and after it. I didn't force anything at all, my mind just got used to the idea that I need at least 6 months to strengthen some joints/tendons/ligaments and also learn a lot of new stuff, so I tried to enjoy and benefit from every single exercise.

• Pre-warm up

• Wrist routine

• Warm-up: PB, chin up grip dead hang, plank, reverse plank, arch, hollow holds

(3 sets of 20 sec, no rest in between exercices, 30 seconds rest between sets).

• FSE:

- Straddle L bent (6x10 sec)

- German Hang (6x10 sec)

- Tuck FL (6x20 sec)

- Back to wall HS (6x15 sec)

As I forgot my pushup handles at home, I didn't do the L-sit, I can't work it on FX.

German Hang was not full, as my shoulders and elbows cannot take it for now. I just used a range that I was comfortable with.

Straddle L was not performed on PB, as there is no such thing in that gym, but I used a thick single bar that people use to put their legs on when they bench press, which is suspended at 40 cm above the ground, so I kept a tight close under-grip for this exercise.

No rest between FSE exercices, 1 minute rest between sets.

• FBE:

- Declined FX PPP (10 sets x 5 reps)

- Chin pull-ups L-sit (10 sets x 3 reps)

- RLL (10 sets x 5 reps)

For the first two PPP series I only did 3 reps, then I realized they are too easy, so I increased to 5 reps. They were not difficult, too, but I didn't know that before I finished all 10 sets. I wish I did the PPPs with my legs on wall, but they didn't allow me to do that at the gym, so I lowered a horizontal bar from a shoulder / squat press weight-machine to only 70 cm height from the ground and I put my legs on. Palms near waist, fingers pointing backwards, leaning forward. All PPPs were performed pretty fast. (4-5 second all 5 reps). I am also thinking about raising the bar more next time, maybe to 90 cm.

Both PPPs and chin-ups were performed using full ROM. Chin on the ground and full elbow lock at the end for PPPs. At chin-ups I didn't touch the bar with the nipples, but with my shoulders, but I think it's not a pretty bad start. Anyway, I don't want my nipples to get hurt. I wanted to use weights for chin-ups, but I didn't know how much should I use. A little weight shall be added next time.

I thought I could also add 5 reps of Hanging Leg Raises between pull-ups and RLLs, but they pushed me out from the 20-40s timeframe (yeah, I am pretty slow with that), so I only did three exercices and I will do the leg raises tomorrow. I did some L sit pull-ups, so the core did not fall asleep anyway. I didn't allow myself any rest time between exercices, but only 1 minute rest between giant sets.

Finished with some stretching exercices and talking to a buddy who was worried about people using fat when they prepare their soup or other dishes…. Overall, I think it was a good workout, I didn't feel any pain, sore, fatigue or something else, it was just a safe, challenging and fun workout, I really enjoyed it.

I got tired just reading this.

Seems like you're very strong already. Are you working towards achieving any specific goal/skill?

I'll try to publish shorter stories, so people won't fall asleep.

I think I have some strength, but not that much and not everywhere, so there's a lot of room for improvement. You'll see from the following posts that core & legs are my weak points, as I didn't trained them, so I am preparing some special workouts just for these two fellows. But I am glad to see a little progress by training almost daily and I feel great moving and doing sport stuff. If I didn't do this type of training, I'd be doing something else, that's for sure. I don't know what that would be, though.

My targets for now are BL, FL & planche, which, as you know, are very basic stuff. I would love to do some more harder stuff (including press HS) - who wouldn't, but my joints / tendons / tissues /shoulders / elbows are not ready and won't be very soon, so I have to work around. I think there are one or two exercices that I could be doing on rings, but got no place to hang those for now, so I have to be happy with present conditions. Meanwhile, the body will get more used to this type of training. Anyway, if there's no fun in doing this, to me it makes no sense, so I am trying to enjoy and learn as much as possible.

Anyway, you're doing much better and I am glad to see this.

The length of your post was fine, I meant that your workout seemed like it was very vigorous!

I agree that you have to keep it fun and listen to your body. If the workout is boring or tedious you won't stick with it. If it's above what you can handle you're likely to get injured.

If all of us beginners continue to motivate ourselves and each other, we'll be supermen someday soon.

Got back earlier from the gym, but took some time to eat and for some chat workouts in the garden with family and neighbours.

Yesterday evening I realized that I made a mistake during the day's workout: PPPs should have been performed with a slow tempo, not fast. To me, it was worst than losing 50 kg of the finest gold , so I decided to include PPPs in today's workout.

• Pre-warm up

• Wrist routine

• Warm-up (same as yesterday, will be the same during the entire SSC)

• FSE:

– Straddle L bent on single bar ( 6 sets x 10 seconds);

– Tuck BL (6 sets x 10 seconds);

– Tuck FL (3 sets x 20 seconds).

I'll have a second workout home at midnight , which will include L-sit & HS. I have to be careful and do a good warm-up, I'm obsessed about not getting injured.

• FBE:

– Declined FX PPP (10 sets x 5 reps)

– Weighted thumb to shoulder dips (10 sets x 5 reps)

– Reverse hyper-extensions (5 sets x 5 reps)

• Stretching

For the first two series, I tried the wall maltese push-ups using a small wooden ladder I found at the gym, which I used against the wall, but my legs kept falling on the ground after the first three reps, so I went to the bar (machine…) and put my ankles on it. I also raised the bar with 8-10 cm (by sight measure) to 80 cm. I definitely need to work more on core and legs until I can do the maltese push-ups on wall.

Switching tempo was definitely the big revelation of today's workout! Wow! Took 1 second to go down, a two seconds hold with chin on the ground and one second to push back. Which, immediately followed by five slow reps of full ROM weighted dips, that was tough. Used an extra 15 kg plate for the first 5 sets, then took five kilos away for the remaining sets, as the 6RM changed after the first half of the workout. Actually, that's interesting, because when somebody goes for a 6 RM (10 sets) routine and takes the 6RM as reference (which I think is measured when the person is fully rest and just one exercise is performed), he will notice that that values are going to change as he goes through the 10 sets, not to mention about adding a second exercise with minimum rest time (1 minute). What I tried to do was to maintain a 6RM load during the entire workout, set by set, that was to add or took away weight / increase or decrease difficulty so that the respective set was performed at 6RM, taking into consideration the second exercise and also an increasing level of fatigue. I don't know if it was the best idea, but the workout was much more demanding than the previous.

Worked the reverse hyper-extensions about five minutes after finishing with push-ups&dips. I didn't do any hanging leg raises, I decided to do a special day for legs & another one fore core (back & front). That would also break the rhythm and make the workouts more interesing.

The only special thing about today's workout was, again, the tempo, which makes exercices really cool. I started to get used to warm-up holds, they seem pretty easy now, except for arch&hollow holds, which I'm not comfortable with and confirms a weakness of the core. However, I'm not going to change anything with regards to holding time until the end of the cycle. Also, Tuck FL, Tuck BL, Straddle L low and HS are more easier now, so I think I'm on a good path.

• Pre-warm-up

• Wrist routine

• Warm-up (PB, chin up grip dead hang, plank, reverse plank, hollow, arch holds - 3 x 20s each)

• FSE:

- Straddle L low (6 x 10 s)

- L-sit on handles (6 x 10 s)

- Tuck FL (3 x 20 s)

- Tuck BL (3 x 20 s)

- HS (4 x 15 s)

• FBE:

- back to neck pull-ups (3030), 8 sets x 5 reps

- FX declined PPP (3030), 8 sets 5 reps

• Stretching

I tried to stay in the hypertrophy range, so I did the entire pull-ups exercise, then started push-ups separately. The tempo made exercices pretty harsh.

At the end I wanted to see if I can do declined push-ups using maltese wide grip and hands at 45 degrees, and it worked well with all sort of finger positions (front, side, back), so next time maybe I'll give it a try, or maybe pike push-ups, to do some more work with shoulders… maybe shoulders is a better idea.

Today I received a great hint from slizzardman, through an older post, actually Korean dips can be worked if there's a Smith Machine in the gym, so I can't wait for Thursday. I'm not sure if I can do these, but I'll give it a try.

Also, I couldn't resist temptation and bought about a kilo of dextrose. I'm going to mix it with whey using a 1:1 ratio.

I wanted to eat something sweet today, and I went for fruits. I went to a store and got 100 grams of figs, they are very good for health, contains polyphenols and flavonoids, which fight against free-radicals, and are also rich in fibers and some vitamins. My wife was also delighted to have a few. I personally alternate figs with raisins and dates in my diet, they are all healthy and tasty.

As I finish this post, I'm having a bad time with mosquitos... my cat is not interesting in hunting them, so I have to do all the bloody work myself.

Figs and raisins are very high in fructose though. May not be the best choice to eat all day long :-)

by the way, great log

Razz said:

Figs and raisins are very high in fructose though. May not be the best choice to eat all day long :-)

Not all day long and not every day. My body tells me when he needs something. Anyway, I don't eat any type of sugar, any sweets, nor drink anythink else than watter (rarely a glass of wine or a beer), so fruits are the only sources of sweet I have, but I don't exaggerate. According to a Wikipedia article, you only need two medium sized figs to produce a significant increase in plasma antioxidant capacity. I don't know exactly what it means, but it really sounds great.

Razz said:

by the way, great log

I'm glad you enjoy it. That's another kind of training, Fundamenal Writing Exercices (FWEs), and I always do it after FSEs and FBEs.

I did a nice workout today, especially because it was about core exercices, which I eluded in the past. The time has come to work the whole body, not just three upper muscles and an ankle , so I went straight into the tiger's den, so to say.

Today is also a special day because it's the first time in my life when I did barbell deadlifts. No pictures were taken for the keepsake, but that's just fine.

Warm-up holds and FSEs are becoming easier, I feel like I'm spending less energy with these. Connective tissues are becoming stronger day by day and I noted an increased flexibility in my wrist during the wrist routine.

20 minutes before the workout I had a coffee, as I read a message from slizz, who said that coffee helps the workout. A few days ago I also read an article on Poliquin's website and he said that coffee is rich in polyphenols and helps improving the insulin sensitivity. So, I'm going to have a coffee every single day 20 minutes before the workout.

• Pre warm-up

• Wrist routine

• Warm-up

• FSE:

– straddle L low on a thin bar (6 x 10 s)

– tuck FL (3 x 20 s)

– german hang (6 x 10s)

– HS (4 x 15s)

• FBE:

– Straight legs barbell deadlifts (6 sets x 10 reps)

– Hanging leg raises (6 sets x 6 reps)

– Dragon flags (6 sets x 8 reps)

– Tuck hanging pikes (5 sets x 10 reps)

I didn't do too much for core today and I didn't do circuit training because I had to see how I am doing with multiple core exercices during the same workout. However, the Great Wall was made brick by brick.

A funny thing was that I did the barbell deadlifts with a 20 kg bar as I didn't want to dislocate something... But I made the exercise more interesting by placing five or six plates under my feet. The trick is that they had different diameters so I wasn't perfectly balanced when I went up and down and there was a low effort to keep balanced. I liked it. Also, there was a longer ROM as I had to bend more to reach the ground with the bar, the same way there a longer ROM when doing pushups on chairs, the chin & chest go lower.

There was something interesting about the straddle L low, I did it on a thin bar that was resting at some height on its support place of the bench press. I used to do it on a thick bar until now with under grip, but this changed things as I was fighting for balance, too. The bar was not still, it would rotate to left or right, so my body was initially balancing to left and right. I like it, because it involves more muscles in order to keep balance and I think this is a kind of exercise which shows how difficult is also on rings. Palms were facing each other, close grip.

I didn't do the L-sit at the gym, I'll work it later on push-up handles at home.

Two things are worth mentioning about today's workout, as they were done "first time":

– the first pike push-ups sets ever;

– a smarter way to get the postworkout proteins/aminoacids.

• Pre warm-up

• Wrist routine

• Static holds warm-up

• FSE (straddle L low on single bar, tuck BL, tuck FL, handstand, L-sit)

• FBE:

– pike push-ups (8 sets x 6 reps) - half 3130 and half 2020;

– thumb to shoulder dips (8 sets x 6 reps); 2120 and 2020.

I thought it would be nice to start working on shoulders, as I am very slowly moving towards HS press. Hopefully, I'll do some in about 12 months or maybe less, but I don't really mind about it right now. I didn't do the pikes with the hands of the floor, I used two parallel thin bars of a dip machine (like the one this lady is resting her legs on: http://images.teamsugar.com/files/users ... achine.jpg). The bars were raised at about 35 cm height, so I could lower more with the shoulders and head between those bars. At the same time, I didn't keep my feet on the ground, but used a small wooden ladder (about 20 cm height) during all sets. Maybe with a normal tempo these would have been easier, but I didn't want to go for the easiest moves, I changed tempo when I felt I was approaching exhaustion. I finished with the feeling that I could do two more sets.

No weights for dips today, as I used a tempo for these, too. Besides, I literally left all my weight on the hands to the fingers, I felt all the bones in my back, shoulders and arms when I was in the lowest position, there was no more space for them to stretch. I am happy that I didn't dislocate anything and all my parts are in good condition seven hours after the workout. Before the regular dips sets, I tried Korean dips on the Smith Machine, but I failed: the body rolled backwards and all the bodyweight was on the biceps… maybe I didn't do this exercise correctly, I'll give it another try next time.

I mixed a 30g whey powder with 30g of dextrose and added 6 grames of aminoacids for the first PWO shake, followed by another 30g whey + vitamins & minerals after 30 minutes. No sipping trick today , as I got some good solid food and tasty salads later.

Since it was Friday, I decided to do some legs. I stopped doing legs many years ago, at that time I was squatting some weights, now I barely squat myself. I knew I would confront a muscle fever after the exercices, but I took the risk. I already have another muscle fever from yesterday's pike push-ups, so I thought that having two during the same weekend would be more balanced. The workout was fine, except me after that, when I had to walk up and down the stairs. Luckily, there was a balustrade so I could schlep myself out of the gym.

• Pre warm-up

• Wrist routine

• Warm-up (PB, chin up dead grip, plank, reverse, hollow, arch holds - 3 x 20s)

• FSE: straddle L low on single bar, german hang, tuck FL, L-sit, HS (1 min total for each)

• FBE:

– Self assisted SLS (6x6 each leg);

– Weighted lunges (6x6, each leg);

– Reverse Hyper-Extension (6x6).

• Stretch

That was the first week of the first SSC and I can't wait for the next week. I'm not going to do anything different, but I'm going to work the FBEs a little bit harder. Also, I'm very happy with the way I've eaten during this week, I feel great and have a lot of energy. I am happy that I finally started training the shoulder, the core and the legs, so I look forward to the next fever-free workouts.

No log updates for the last few days because it's been the same workout routine, same warm-up holds, same FSEs and basically the same FBEs (just a little bit harder). So I decided I'm not going to log the same exercices every week, I will update the workout routine after the first SSC, because I'm not allowed to change anything until then.

But today was a great day… and not because it was a rest day.

I was walking around, thinking about exercices & stuff like that, and I wanted to see if I can do a one arm push-up. I put my left arm in position and… did three push-ups. Switched to the right arm… did three more. I just couldn't believe it, it was the first time I did one arm push-ups. And what is amazing is that I was doing hundreds of push-ups and couldn't do 1 one arm push-up, now I do less (max. 60 reps / workout, two times a week), but have more strength. So, from now on, I will include OAP in my routine, once a week.

I also found that I am now able to do headstand presses. I wanted to check this during last days and was able to raise the legs (no straddle), come down and hold to 90 degrees, than go back up there… and repeat. I can't do many (can do a few sets of five), but I am happy with the progress. I tried these with the back close to wall, but it seems that I don't need the wall at all. I feel that it's not a good core strength yet, but it's a beginning.

What is worth mentioning is that for the last 3 weeks I lost about 3-4 kilos and now I am lean, so the increase in strength is not related to any muscle size increase. I don't know how much fat I have, but I don't think I have much anymore. Just saved a few percents for the winter time, like polar bears do.

A short update on this 3rd week of the first SSC.

I am happy about the progress I made with two static holds: now I ca do some FX L-sits (not all six sets, but 3-4, the other two on PB, but that's great) and wall HS have become easier, actually yesterday I did the first 10 seconds freestanding HS ever, starting from a wall hold. Today I couldn't do more than a few seconds, I guess I need assistance to help me with getting into the perfect position, but eventually I'll build it alone during next weeks (months), inch by inch. I also noticed that HS have become easier, I'm not afraid of falling into head and while I was doing those freestanding yesterday I felt I could stay like that forever. But I had to come back to this temporary life because the 15 seconds of the round expired.

Another great thing is that now I can do L-sit lifts, which I'll be integrating into my core circuit exercices starting next week. No one arm push-ups this week, I preferred to do declined maltese and pike-pushups. I'm not ready for wall maltese yes, have to wait more until the core gets stronger, so I'm using a bar from the smith machine to put my feet on.

Since I did legs today, I wanted to see if I can do assisted muscle-ups, but I forgot the elastic ropes at home, so I'll try these next week. However, I realized that I don't have grip strength, I can't even hold a false grip chin dead hang… so I have to check slizz's video on youtube, he has a few words on false grip training.

I also made myself a list with books I must have and among them is "Mastery of Hand Strength" by John Brookfield, I understand it's a great book on grip strength training. Also, because I'm not doing fine with flexibility, a flexibility book is required, but I can't decide what's the best:

– Stretch to win, by Ann Frederick

– Power flex stretching, by David de Angelis (which is available at a nice price on bay)

– Stretching scientifically, by Thomas Kurz

– Relax into stretching, by Pavel Tsatsouline

Have to find out more about each one in order to decide.

deodatus said:

A short update on this 3rd week of the first SSC.

I am happy about the progress I made with two static holds: now I ca do some FX L-sits (not all six sets, but 3-4, the other two on PB, but that's great) and wall HS have become easier, actually yesterday I did the first 10 seconds freestanding HS ever, starting from a wall hold. Today I couldn't do more than a few seconds, I guess I need assistance to help me with getting into the perfect position, but eventually I'll build it alone during next weeks (months), inch by inch. I also noticed that HS have become easier, I'm not afraid of falling into head and while I was doing those freestanding yesterday I felt I could stay like that forever. But I had to come back to this temporary life because the 15 seconds of the round expired.

Another great thing is that now I can do L-sit lifts, which I'll be integrating into my core circuit exercices starting next week. No one arm push-ups this week, I preferred to do declined maltese and pike-pushups. I'm not ready for wall maltese yes, have to wait more until the core gets stronger, so I'm using a bar from the smith machine to put my feet on.

Since I did legs today, I wanted to see if I can do assisted muscle-ups, but I forgot the elastic ropes at home, so I'll try these next week. However, I realized that I don't have grip strength, I can't even hold a false grip chin dead hang… so I have to check slizz's video on youtube, he has a few words on false grip training.

I also made myself a list with books I must have and among them is "Mastery of Hand Strength" by John Brookfield, I understand it's a great book on grip strength training. Also, because I'm not doing fine with flexibility, a flexibility book is required, but I can't decide what's the best:

– Stretch to win, by Ann Frederick

– Power flex stretching, by David de Angelis (which is available at a nice price on bay)

– Stretching scientifically, by Thomas Kurz

– Relax into stretching, by Pavel Tsatsouline

Have to find out more about each one in order to decide.

You are really into this. That's great. Keep up the good work !

I'm just wondering where you got your ideas of volume from? I've gotten the general impression

that 3 sets of 5 is kind of what we are shooting for. I see a lot of 6 sets of 8 and 10 sets of 3.

It may be fine now, and you are pretty young and resilient however you do have to watch out that large volume without

adequate recovery time and attention can lead to tendonitis, bursitis, etc. That is my concern at any rate!

FutureisNow said:

You are really into this. That's great. Keep up the good work !

I'm just wondering where you got your ideas of volume from? I've gotten the general impression

that 3 sets of 5 is kind of what we are shooting for. I see a lot of 6 sets of 8 and 10 sets of 3.

It may be fine now, and you are pretty young and resilient however you do have to watch out that large volume without

adequate recovery time and attention can lead to tendonitis, bursitis, etc. That is my concern at any rate!

Thanks for the encouragement!

I used to do a lot of reps before coming into this, there was no workout without 150 to 250 reps, so really a lot, and that was two times a week. At that volume, I did repeat the same exercise after three days (Mo and Thu, Tue and Fri, Wed & Sat). These were pull-ups, dips, push-ups, following each other day.

Now I feel that after 25-50 reps / workout the recovery is so fast that I can repeat the workout in the same day. I remember that many years ago a coach told me that the best workout is the one which you can do again after one hour or the same day (I don't remember exactly). So, since I started this, except for the initial DOMS (Delayed onset muscle soreness) I had for some "new", hidden muscles I hadn't heard about (like core & legs), I felt the body is much rested than when I was doing a lot of reps. If I do the workout at 9 a.m., at 5 p.m. I think I can repeat it. Of course I don't do it.

Also, I didn't do a lot of warmup before, but I do now. When it's time for FBE, I feel really well and prepared because of the warm-up.

Yes, I did some 8 sets workouts, I had to see how it was and I didn't trust the low sets routine entirely. This week, after seeing the increase in strength, I only did 5 sets x 5/6 reps because I was convinced that it really worked. And worked great!

Poliquin says that best results are obtained when three rep ranges are mixed: 3 to 6, 8-10, 12-15, because they mix all types of fibers in the muscles. But rest time and tut are important parts here… I'm just discovering these, so you might see really strange things here in the future (part of the learning process), unless I get that book of Poliquin which seems to be full of known secrets which I don't know.

I try to be careful about not getting injured. Knowing that I need 6-12 months only to prepare the joints / tendons keeps me cool. Well, most of the time.